y of
Grouchy--and even of Ney himself; nor wanted there devoted men, such as
Labedoyere, to sustain these most unfounded charges, and all other
arguments anywise favouring the cause of the Emperor, in either chamber.
But the truth was great, and prevailed. The Senate, no more than the
people, could be deceived now; and though a deputation waited on him at
the Elysee, and in most respectful terms thanked him for the sacrifice
he had made, he in vain endeavoured to extort any direct avowal that, in
accepting his abdication, they considered that act as necessarily
accompanied with the immediate proclamation of Napoleon II. The Emperor,
for the last time clothed in the imperial garb, and surrounded with his
great officers of state, received the deputation with calmness and
dignity, and dismissed them with courtesy. He perceived clearly that
there was no hope for his son.

Thus terminated the second reign--_the hundred days_ of Napoleon.

By this time, however, Labedoyere's violent language in the Senate--his
repeated protestations that unless Napoleon II. were recognised, the
abdication of his father was null, and that the country which could
hesitate about such an act of justice was worthy of nothing but
slavery--began to produce a powerful effect among the regular soldiery
of Paris. The Senate called on Napoleon himself to signify to the army
that he no longer claimed any authority over them; and he complied,
though not without mingling many expressions highly offensive to those
whose mandate he obeyed. A provisional government, however, consisting
of Fouche, Carnot, and three more, was forthwith proclaimed; and when
the first of these persons conceived that Napoleon's continued presence
in the capital might produce disturbances, and accordingly requested him
to withdraw to Malmaison, he found himself obliged to do so. This was on
the 24th; and no sooner was he established in this villa, than it became
obvious to himself that he was in fact a prisoner. Fouche's police
surrounded him on all sides; and the military duties about Malmaison
were discharged by a party of the national guard, attached to Louis
XVIII., and commanded by General Beker, an officer well known to be
personally hostile to the fallen sovereign. We have seen how the
Parisians veered from side to side at every former crisis of his
history, according as the wind of fortune happened to blow. To finish
the picture it remains to be told that, ere Napoleon had